Defeat at Eastlands means Chelsea fail their first test of the campaign!

Captain Tevez still plays for United, Thank you Carlos!

Carlos Tevez's second half solo effort ended Chelsea's 100% start to the season in a 1-0 defeat at Eastlands. This news is a big boost for United's title hopes. This was the first real test for Chelsea and they failed it!

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea

The first leg of Carling Cup ends in an embarrassing defeat for United

Traitor!

Hero of the game: Carlos Tevez scored 2 vital goals to put City in front. He was later declared Man of the Match as well.

Man City 2-1 Man Utd

The game ended 2-1 in a very exciting fashion. This was Robert Mancini's (the new Man City manager) first ever Manchester Derby and after securing a famous victory it has turned out to be quite a proud one.

Ryan Giggs opened the scoring with a rather easy goal. It was actually Rooney's strike which was deflected off the goalie Shay Given and Ryan Giggs then did no mistake to give United a 1-0 lead.

Carlos Tevez then equalised from the penalty spot. Fabio held Bellamy from his shirt and continued to 'badly' mark him inside the penatly box; as a result of which he was booked and United conceded a penalty.

The Argentine scored again in the second half from the header. I must say the United defence looked shaky then and they deserved to concede that goal, not sure about the penalty totally. Tevez's celebration was quite remarkable after both the goals.. After his second goal, he ran till the half line and then put his hands over his ears... something like this:

The famous Cup celebration

But of course! in a blue t-shirt... He didn't over do it though as he didn't want to hurt the 'sentiments' of United fans.

Overall, I felt United were not very versatile in the beginning of the 2nd half. They weren't that alert due to which they conceded the second goal.

Now in order to reach the finals of the Carling Cup, United need to either of the following:

a) Win 1-0..

a) Win 2-1 to take the game to extra time..

b) By winning the game by a goal difference of 2 would do the job if they concede..

THEY NEED TO WIN THE 2ND LEG IN ANY CASE BY A MARGIN OF AT LEAST 1 GOAL AND NOT CONCEDE ANY. IF THEY CONCEDE A GOAL, THEN THEN NEED TO WIN BY A MARGIN OF 2 GOALS.

Glory Glory Man United... Hope we are fantastic on the weekend against Hull City.

The battle of Manchester begins tomorrow in the Crucial Carling cup game at the Eastlands

United face Man City tomorrow at the Eastlands and this is quite a big game for both the teams. This game was supposed to be played on 6th of January but due to heavy snowfall in Manchester, the game had to be postponed to the 19th of January. It is the first leg of the Carling Cup Semi-final and its a great chance for City to register a win here and keep their hopes of winning a trophy after a long long time. But of course! that won't be easy as they face THE GREAT MANCHESTER UNITED.

United team news

The real worry for the team for the tomorrow's fixture will be Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs. Both are down with injuries. Berbatov might be needing an operation on his knee soon but it's great that he's still tolerating the pain and avoiding the surgery so that he can play for united.

Rio Ferdinand might be featuring in tomorrow's game but it's really touch and go. He's been training really hard and very eager to come back.

Owen Hargreaves still has some time to raise his confidence levels.

City team news

Santa Cruz has been ruled out from tomorrow's game because of a calf injury and may take a good 1 and a half month to recover. So that limits City's attacking options. But they have Tevez up front who is in his best form of the season.

Roberto Mancini is excited about the derby game tomorrow and believes that Manchester City can certain become bigger than their rivals and outclass them tomorrow. Ha! what a dreamer.

It will be interesting to see what kind of formation and players he plays tomorrow. Till now he's been giving the youngsters a try at the Carling cup, but will his tactics change against Man City?

I personally feel he should play Owen and Diouf and see how their partnership goes. After we've seen a nice harmony between Dimitar and Wayne, having a second choice is actually great!

As far as the defenders go, Sir Alex should not take a risk and pick his top choice.. He might wanna give Foster a chance after his bid to go back to Spurs was rejected earlier today.

In the midfield he should play, Obertan, Scholes and Fletcher and Giggs (or Valencia).. He could have Rooney on the bench who could come on as a sub for Owen. But I hope United thrash City tomorrow without Rooney.

Predicted score: United wins 3-1. Owen, Fletcher and Giggs to score.